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Cinnamon Bread, or Faux Amish Friendship Bread?

Many years ago someone gave me a bag of Amish Friendship Bread (AFB) starter mix. If you aren’t familiar with this mix, it’s a yeast based dough (sourdough) that requires your attention nearly everyday. I really don’t want to rewrite Amish Bread history so I am going to refer you to an awesome blog that I found called Friendship Bread Kitchen. Darien Gee is the mastermind behind the Friendship Bread Kitchen, and it appears that Darien is an expert on AFB. She’s published a series of books called The Friendship Bread Novels, and her blog hosts over 250 AFB recipes.

Since I really like AFB, and I didn’t (and still don’t) have a starter mix of AFB on hand, I decided to do the next best thing – look for a faux recipe for it. I found a delicious looking (alternative) recipe for AFB posted by Melissa at Redfly Creations. Melissa was given the recipe from a lady who claimed her husband had been eating it for breakfast for the last twenty years. Melissa’s photos of the bread were the deciding factor that I would give faux AFB a chance.

This recipe is slightly adapted from Redfly Creations. I cut the recipe in half, added 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon to the batter, along with a tsp. of vanilla extract. I also lowered the oven heat to 325 degrees because my oven tends to run a little hot.

Cinnamon Bread

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 c. sugar

1 large egg

1 c. soured milk

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Grease a bread pan with non-stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small bowl mix 1/4 c. of sugar and 1 tsp. of cinnamon together; set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, and egg. Add milk, flour, and baking soda. Pour about 1/2 of the batter into the greased pan and sprinkle half of the prepared cinnamon and sugar on top of batter. Add remaining batter to pan and sprinkle with last of cinnamon mixture on top. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until toothpick tester come clean.

Cool in pan before removing and slicing.

This Cinnamon Bread is so sweet, moist, and delicious. And while I’d say there are some subtle differences between this recipe and the real AFB, I’d say it’s a tasty alternative.

Hi Eileen,thank you so much for your great comment and keeping my family in your thoughts. I never heard of AFB so not sure what the real deal is like but I love an easier faux recipe, the bread looks great.

Wonderful and so enticing. I want to make this tonight. I have buttermilk – would that work in place of the sour milk? I know I can “sour” the milk but may have to try the buttermilk… hmmm. You are the baking expert – what do you think?

And of course the pictures are incredible as always!

P.S. you must share this on our link party today. It’s easy and hopefully you will get links back so others find out how great you are! Here is the link to the party – http://bit.ly/11hzfG0

Sorry I haven’t stop by in awhile, I hope you are well! I have always wanted to try Amish Friendship Bread, hopefully someday I will get to try some:-) I love that you made a faux recipe, it really looks wonderful! Hugs, Terra

You had me at ‘faux’. Back in the late 80’s, a neighbor gave me a jar of AFB starter along with a loaf of Amish Friendship Bread. At first, I was beyond excited. Her bread was delicious and easy to make. Then I began to grow tired of the constant ‘feeding’ process to keep the batter alive, and it grew so rapidly that within months, I couldn’t even give the starter away.

Unless you’re feeding a barn full of ranch hands or a large family, I don’t know how you could keep up with the process of AFB & its starter dough without suffering burnout. I love the faux AFB twist on this – no muss, no fuss, and no daily tending. Sounds perfect!